Session Details
… please call us on 0751 691 1402
Contact Counselling does not have its own premises. Instead, counsellors work from their chosen locations. Your sessions will either be held at premises where your allocated counsellor is based, or via an on-line platform or by telephone. Should you wish to see a counsellor for face-to-face counselling at a particular location, you are welcome to remain on the list until a counsellor in your preferred location becomes available. However, please note that this could significantly extend your time spent on the waiting list as there isn’t scope for any counsellor based in one location to see clients at a different location.
What will happen at the first meeting with my counsellor?
Your counsellor will undertake a brief assessment and take some personal details about you and the issues which you would like to bring to counselling.
They will also explain the counselling contract which includes the nature of confidentiality and responsibilities that the counsellor must uphold throughout the duration of your counselling journey, along with information about the sessions and attendance.
You will then have the opportunity to talk about the issues that have brought you to counselling. Together, you will look at your needs to see how counselling might be able to help. Should you deem our model of therapy unsuitable, the counsellor will endeavour to direct you to one which might be better suited to your needs.
You will also discuss payment for your counselling based upon our sliding fee scale.
How long will counselling last?
Counselling is offered on a weekly basis and each session lasts 50 minutes. The number of sessions that you have depends upon the kind of issues that you bring to counselling. Contact Counselling, unlike many other organisations, offers open-ended counselling and there is no upper limit to the number of sessions may you have.
However, as part of the arrangement with Contact Counselling, the slot you take will be your designated weekly slot for the duration of your counselling journey. There is, therefore, an expectation that you will attend your sessions at the same time and on the same day every week until the conclusion of counselling. All of the counsellors work independently but unite under the auspices of Contact Counselling to offer several sessions each per week at a more affordable rate. (Please read more about this in the ‘Fees’ section).
Should you not attend a session, or cancel a session at short notice, the full session fee will be charged. Should cancellations and missed sessions become frequent, your counsellor will explore with you the reasons for this, as it may be that counselling is not right for you at the present time.
Fees
Contact Counselling will base your fee upon your income using the following scale of charges. If, due to your personal circumstances, you are in a position to contribute a higher rate than that linked to bracket in to which your income falls, this will enable us to offer more opportunities for affordable counselling to those individuals on low incomes.
Contact Counselling is not a ‘managed’ or ‘funded’ organisation and counsellors are not salaried. Out of client fees, counsellors must pay for room hire, telephone costs, website maintenance, insurance etc, thus receiving only a nominal amount for themselves. For this reason, counsellors are unable to offer sessions for less than the fees listed below, or on a full-time basis. It is imperative that you make timely payments in order for counsellors to continue to offer the sessions they do, at a more affordable cost.
If your earnings are; (fee scale as of 17th January 2023)
- Below £5k £18 per session
- £5k – £10k £20 per session
- £10k – £15k £25 per session
- £15k – £20k £30 per session
- £20k – £25k £32 per session
- £25k – £30k £37 per session
- Above £30k £40 per session